Entrapment

A swallow flies backwards and sideways,
Over a wasteland that has not seen grass for five years,
And two young girls walk across it,
Dressed in uniform but ignoring their commitments,
Unaware of the desolation surrounding them,
As it is something they have grown accustomed to in years gone by,
But the swallow still flies backwards and sideways,
For fear of falling and dying on the lifeless ground…

And there is a boy sitting on a bus, and has been for two years straight,
A bus that everyday passes by the fenced enclosure of brown rubble,
Yet, only today, at the sight of the swallow, has he noticed it,
And he fingers the place on his jacket where buttons once resided,
And he brushes his hair nervously from his eyes with holey gloves,
And he suddenly feels too warm, yet knows the wind outside is fierce,
As that swallow is flying backwards and sideways,
Yet the two young girls seem oblivious to the elements and experiences around them…

So the bus passes away from the dead, bottle covered, rubbish strewn land,
So the bus ignores the disorientated swallow, hanging in the air,
While the girls talk of things like alcohol, and cigarettes,
And boys, and sex, and clothes, and town, and fake IDs,
And of everything they hold so dear in their lives, but would never admit it outwardly,
As this would be a sign of weakness their peers would not tolerate,
And all the while the boy is drifting away from the land cursed by those two girls,
And all the while the boy is forced away from the trapped swallow…

And is wondering how it will fly in a straight line again.